Jose Baez, Casey Anthony's attorney, has confirmed that the defense has been notified. Baez is not qualified to defend a client in a death penalty case because he does not have the required amount of experience by the Florida Bar.

"This is not a death penalty case. We will do whatever is necessary to defend Casey Anthony from the state trying to take her life. We already have death-qualified defense lawyers on our team and are prepared for a vigorous defense ... We plan on making this a whole tougher for the state now," Baez said in response to Monday's development from the state.

The court has also been notified of the state's intention.

Previously, the state said it would not seek the death penalty for Anthony, who is in the Orange County Jail charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of her daughter, Caylee.

The state attorney's office is citing "sufficient aggravating circumstances" as the reason for Monday's decision.

In December, prosecutors told WESH 2 News they were lacking just what they concluded they had Monday -- aggravating circumstances. In its notice to the court around that time, the state attorney's office wrote, "It is not in the best interest of the people of the State of Florida to pursue the death penalty."

Those circumstances include: that the killing was heinous, atrocious, cruel or depraved, involved substantial planning and premeditation, was committed without pretense of moral or legal justification, was committed by a person with previous felonies, or happened while another felony was being committed.

Last year, Casey Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, released a statement regarding the state's decision not to seek the death penalty against their daughter. "In response to the state's intent not to seek the death penalty came as no surprise to us this afternoon," the statement said. "Our family believes Caylee Marie is still alive and our efforts have not lost focus to the objective of bringing her home. Today's announcement only supports our theory that our granddaughter is still with us, and we will continue investigating all tips and leads that support our position despite what the authorities continue to say."

Even after Caylee's remains were found on Dec. 11, the Anthonys have continued to stand by their daughter, maintaining she is telling the truth about what happened to Caylee.

Meanwhile, the latest legal maneuver by Baez may reveal where he plans to go with his client's defense.

Baez filed a motion asking a judge to let him subpoena cell phone records from a dozen people -- and some of the names on the list are surprising.

Casey Anthony's own family -- George, Cindy and Lee Anthony -- are on the list that Baez submitted to Judge Stan Strickland. Several of Casey Anthony's friends and Roy Kronk are also on the list.

Kronk is the meter reader who found the remains of Caylee Anthony in a wooded area off of Suburban Drive last December.

A criminal defense lawyer whom WESH 2 News spoke with said Baez can use these phone records to find out who Kronk spoke with and whether he told those people the same things he told investigators about what he saw and when.

"The state puts on their case first; suddenly all these things that seemed so incriminating, you lose focus when the defense is raising issues that affect the credibility of the prosecution," criminal defense attorney Richard Hornsby said. "He's definitely going toward debunking the state's theory that Casey did it by showing that the body was put there by somebody else after the fact. I've got to think that's where he's going and that's a strong, strong argument on his part."

Hornsby also said that Baez has a key witness from inside the sheriff's office. He said the name that sticks out the most on Baez's list of subpoenaed phone records is Richard Cain. Cain is the deputy who is in the process of being fired for failing to follow up on Roy Kronk's tip about a suspicious bag in the woods along suburban drive. Cain is appealing that decision.

"He already thinks the sheriff's office is wrong for firing him in the first place so if he gets on the stand, whose side do you think he's going to be on?" Hornsby said.

In the likely event Cain is called to testify for Casey Anthony's defense in what is now a death penalty case, Hornsby said Cain will present his actions in the best possible light.

"He's going to get up there and say, 'Yeah, I went out there and there was nothing there.' The jury's going to say, 'Wow, one of your own deputies went out there and found nothing,'" Hornsby said.

Couple that with testimony from the Anthony's former private investigator Dominic Casey who searched that same stretch of woods in November three times and found no remains, and all of the sudden, Hornsby said, Roy Kronk's testimony for the prosecution might not seem so strong.

"They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt and you prove the body was put there after Casey was in jail. That's a huge reasonable doubt," Hornsby said.